


Mickey would rather go to juvie than admit he's Gay

by MiriamMT



Series: Gallavich OneShots (no smut) [6]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Dad!Mickey, M/M, Not sure if the warning is really necessary, Parents Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, lawyer show inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-07 21:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21224246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriamMT/pseuds/MiriamMT
Summary: Summary: Ian and Mickey moved into an apartment in the northside. The neighbours don't like Mickey, given that he is an ex-con. One day, while Ian isn't home, he suddenly gets a phonecall from Mickey, telling him that the police arrested him.





	Mickey would rather go to juvie than admit he's Gay

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly prefer wattpad over ao3. Alone because of the comment section. Here you can only comment in the end, with wattpad with can comment to specific paragraphs etc

The worst thing about being an ex-con, were all the prejudice.  
Mickey used to be in Prison a lot, in and out during his teenager years, and for a few years during his 20s. No one would care in the South Side, but his boyfriend insisted on moving to the northside.  
Mickey knew that it was a bad idea, but it was his boyfriend's wish, he thought, Mickey wouldn't get into trouble so often, if they moved into a better area.  
They moved into a cosy apartment and Mickey actually liked it. He found a job as a bartender, he actually learned how to become a professional one, his boyfriend was proud of him.

Then things started to get bad.  
The neighbours hated Mickey, they only saw the tattoos, they only thought about the southside and the jailtime Mickey served. They didn't bother to get to know him, they had made up their mind about him the first time they met in the hallway.  
They liked his boyfriend though, not knowing that he was his boyfriend, thinking he was his roommate, who they could pity for having to live with _such a person_.

One week, Ian left to visit his family for a few days, Debbie just had her second child – she married at age 18 and planned the second kid this time – and Ian decided to help her, because her husband had to work to support them.  
Mickey would've liked to join him, but he had to go to work and didn't want to travel from southside to northside every day, he also had stuff to do during the day, but promised Ian to come by on his day off to say hello to the new baby.

A few days into the week during which Mickey was alone at home, in the house with a bunch of people who hated him, Ian received a phone call from an unknown number.  
He held his new nephew in his arms, trying to calm him down, and pressed the green button.  
It was a call from Mickey, from a police station.  
"Ian? Ian the police came and... I don't know they said, they said I did stuff, I didn't do! I don't know what to do, I didn't do anything, could you come?"  
Mickey sounded scared. He rarely sounded that scared, especially not when it came to prison and the police. Not even when he was guilty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now Mickey sat in front of the judge.  
He was accused of trying to rape one of his female neighbours, Mrs Tanner, in the basement, until his other neighbour came downstairs as well and interrupted him, leading Mickey to punch her across the face, breaking her nose, when he ran away.

The only thing Mickey had to say to this, was that he's not guilty.  
No one believed him, not even his own lawyer, who just told him to plead guilty and get it over and done with, but Mickey refused.  
He didn't talk to that lawyer guy more than necessary. He only talked to Ian.  
Of course, Ian believed him, it wasn't only that Mickey would never rape someone, but he was gay, so why a woman of all people?  
Mickey was stubborn, but the worst thing, he was scared. He was scared, he could go back to prison, but he also didn't want his neighbours to know that he was gay. As if being an ex-con wouldn't be enough, but a gay one?  
Ian begged Mickey to just tell them, that he was gay, he didn't have an alibi because Ian wasn't home. But Mickey refused, even when he wanted to tell his lawyer about his sexuality, he just... couldn't. Fear paralysed him – it was truly pathetic.  
He didn't want all those people to know. The judge, the lawyers, the jury, the people watching, his neighbours – it wasn't any of their business.

Ian always remembered, when they were teenagers and Kash shot Mickey and Ian said to Lip  
"Mickey would rather go to juvie than admit that he's gay"  
And there wasn't a sentence that was more true when it came to that topic, because no matter how good Ian made Mickey feel, how safe, no matter how much Mickey loved Ian, in some ways he was still the scared teenager from back then. Even more scared than back then, he was deeply traumatised, suffered from this, and no one, except Ian, acknowledged this Trauma.

The attorney asked him a lot of questions, concentrating on Mickeys "history with violence" and the fact, that he was in prison for attempting to kill Samantha Slott. Ignoring, that his case went into a retrial and Mickey was acquitted. So, Mickey mentioned that a few times, but was ignored. He decided to ignore the attorney instead, not caring if he was childish.  
He saw his lawyer losing his nerves and only sighed.

"That man", Mrs. Tanner said when it was her turn, she pointed at Mickey, "Is dangerous. He needs to go back to prison, where he belongs! I knew something like this would happen, when he moved into our house. Look at him, all those tattoos, and we know that he was in prison – I don't feel safe since he moved in!"

"Did Mr. Milkovich ever threaten you?"  
"Well, no, not directly, but look at him! Of course, I'm intimidated by a Southside criminal!"  
"How would you describe Mr. Milkovich's behaviour towards you and the other neighbours?"  
"Very cold, he never smiles, doesn't greet us in the hallway."  
"Why would I smile at you, you hate me.", Mickey interrupted, his lawyer told him to be quiet.  
"You hear how he talks? So disrespectful!"  
Mickey grimaced in confusion and shook his head, Ian advised him to not use "fuck" in his sentences, so he didn't. What was this bitch's problem?

Mrs. Tanner proceeded describing the attempted rape.  
Mickey still tried to figure out, if the whole thing was just a giant con to get rid of him, or if someone actually tried to rape the woman.  
"Well, I went into the basement to do my laundry. I always go there around the same time, every Tuesday and Friday, and Mr. Milkovich knows that", she started.  
"Everybody knows that!", Mickey interrupted.  
"Silence, Mr Milkovich"  
"Sorry, but everyone in the house knew when she did her laundry, it's not my fault that she's OCD-ing about those things."  
His lawyer told him to shut up.

"Continue, Mrs Tanner.", the judge said.  
"Like I said, I walked into the basement, I switched on the light like usual and started doing my laundry like usual, I didn't pay attention if anyone else was in the room. Suddenly the light was shut off. I immediately had a bad feeling, a woman alone in the basement? With that thug living in the house? I always knew that something will happen, right from the first time I saw this man!", she pointed at Mickey.

"And then he tried to rape you?"  
"I didn't do anything! Is he allowed to ask the question like this?", Mickey asked.  
"I rephrase", said the attorney, "Then the assault happened?"  
"Yes, it all happened so fast! I stood with my back to the basement door, the light went off, and then I already felt... hands on me... he pushed me down on the washing machine. I felt his... hands everywhere on me, and his breath – he smelled like a whole bar."  
"And what occupation has Mr. Milkovich?"  
"He works in a bar, as a bartender."  
"That doesn't prove anything! Smelling like alcohol – could be everyone who drinks it!"  
"Mr Milkovich, please, stop talking.", his lawyer begged him.  
"Then you start talking", he murmured.

"What happened then Mrs Tanner?"  
"I screamed for help, but he would put his hand in front of my mouth. Suddenly I heard the door being opened and- and then I heard Paula, my best friend, yelling and he stopped. I was so relieved. Then I only heard how... how a punch landed in Paula's face and the guy ran away..."

After that it was Mickey's lawyers turn.  
"Mrs Tanner, you said it was completely dark in the basement. And you stood with your back to the basement door."  
"Yes."  
"So there is no chance, that you actually saw Mr Milkovich?"  
"Well, I didn't particularly see him, but I know that it was him!"  
"Did the harasser say anything?"  
"No..."  
"So you also couldn't have recognised his voice."

Mickey raised his eyebrows, this was the first time his lawyer actually acted like a lawyer.  
"Who else could it have been? He was in prison for trying to kill a woman!"  
"Mr Milkovich was acquitted of that charge", the lawyer stated.  
"And killing her is not the same as raping her", Mickey mentioned, getting an angry glance from the lawyer, Mickey bit his lip to not add, that the bitch Sammi had it coming anyways.

"In conclusion", the lawyer said, "You didn't see or hear Mr Milkovich, but just make an assumption based on the smell of alcohol and criminal record that occurred mainly in his teenage years."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now it was Paula White's turn, the woman that had caught the rapist in the act and whose nose was broken.

"Since that man moved in, no one feels safe in the house anymore, I mean, he really is a weird man. Right from the beginning he avoided everyone in the house. That wasn't polite, he was new, you should be nice to your new neighbours, in my opinion."  
Mickey was this close to getting up and punch that woman to give her a black eye to that ugly fucking nose! Fucking stuck up people, they hated him from the beginning, Mickey used to be just wary around them.

"He is an overall unpleasant man. When he comes down to the laundry room in the basement, he doesn't even greet anyone, just puts his stuff into the washing machine, slams it shut and walks upstairs."  
"Yeah, that's what you're supposed to do in there. Should I sit in front of the machine and wait until it's finished and talk nonsense with you in the meantime?", Mickey asked, this was just ridiculous by now.

"He also never smiles, never. Did you ever see someone, who never smiles? It's scary."  
"Visit the southside, once.", Mickey murmured.  
"And if he says something to another person in the house, it's usually just grunting."  
"And he is like that with every person in the house?"

"Yeah, I mean, maybe not with his roommate", Mickeys head shot up, why were they talking about Ian now? "A nice young man, always greets in the hallway, makes small talk. I don't know how he keeps up with this... person."  
"How would you describe their relationship?"  
Mickey started to panic, what were they doing, he looked to his lawyer who also couldn't give him an answer.

"Well, I'm kind of their direct neighbour you know, I mean, not really, but I live directly underneath them. And I think they actually fight a lot. Almost every day, you can hear loud voices and other noises, as if they would walk through the apartment and slam each other into walls and beat each other up. But I can't imagine that with Ian – that's Mr Milkovich's roommate – he is a very non-violent person. So, I guess it must be Mr Milkovich, who starts it."  
"And they're having physical fights?"  
"Yes, Ian sometimes says, that Mr Milkovich is 'working on his anger issues' but in my opinion, that's not working. He is still very violent. I sometimes fear for the poor Ian."

Mickey couldn't believe it.  
What Mrs White just described was literally him and his boyfriend fucking in every square inch in their apartment.  
Mickey wondered, for how long that woman hasn't been fucked, that she doesn't know the difference between having awesome sex and beating each other up... okay, in their youth those two actions were never that far apart, but they wouldn't fight like that in their own home.  
Was all of this just a giant set up joke?

Paula finally explained what happened the day of the incidence.  
She had come home sooner than usual, and she wanted to go into her apartment – she lived on ground floor.  
"Suddenly I heard some kind of scream. It was very muffled, due to the closed basement door, but I could hear it though. At first, I thought, I was just hearing things, but then I decided to better check on things. So, I walked downstairs and then noticed the door being closed, what was odd, because it was never closed. So, I opened the door and it was pitch black inside, I could only hear those... noises... Hannah cried and... I don't know, I didn't know what to do, I looked for the light switch, but before I could actually do anything, I was hit in the face, my nose was broken, and I screamed, and the guy ran away."  
"Could you see the attacker?"

"I couldn't see his face, it was very dark in the laundry room and the light from the hallway isn't really bright. But it was a man, and he wasn't very tall. Smaller than me."  
"How tall are you, Mrs White?"  
"5"10.", she stated.  
"At this point I would like to inform the jury, that Mr Milkovich is 5"7."  
"Are you serious? A lot of people are smaller than her, how can her being a giant be some kind of evidence?"  
"But there aren't so many men living in the house, that are smaller than me.", Mrs White said.  
"There are at least two alone in the floor above mine.", Mickey said to his lawyer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey had lost his hope by now.  
Another two neighbours talked shit about him – Mr Tanner (who accused Mickey of watching his wife for weeks already) and Mr Tippson (who said Mickey was suspiciously quiet the days before the attack, pretty much accused him of making plans to rape Mrs Tanner, what was bulshit, what was Mickey supposed to do all day without Ian? Run around the building like a dog?)

There was no way the jury – they were mostly women and Mickey could even understand that they rather believed another woman – would believe he was innocent.

But now it was Ian's turn. He looked reassuring at Mickey, who couldn't bring himself to even properly look at him. The thought of going back to prison and having to leave Ian yet again was shattering.

"Mr Gallagher, for how long do you know Mr Milkovich?"  
"We grew up together around the same block. Went to school together, but we never actually had anything to do with each other until... six years ago, I think. When I was fifteen and he seventeen."  
"So, you would say, you know him well."  
"I know him better than anyone.", that was the first true thing Mickey heard anyone saying today.

"And do you think, that it is possible, that Mr Milkovich attacked and tried to rape Mrs Tanner."  
"No. That is totally impossible. I know that for sure."  
"You know that for sure? Were you there when the incident happened?"  
"No."  
"Were you even in this part of the city?"  
"No, I was visiting my sister and her new born son", Ian explained calmly.  
His soft voice calmed Mickey down as well, he concentrated just on that sound. Maybe it was the last time he heard that voice without thick glass between them.

"So, you cannot say for sure, that Mr Milkovich did not attack Mrs Tanner."  
"Yes, I can.", Ian sighed, "There are things, that you don't know about Mickey."  
Mickey opened his eyes and stared at Ian. What was he doing? He couldn't be serious.  
Mickey asked Ian to not say anything about their relationship or other stuff that happened. If the jury heard that he was gay, there was the chance that they were homophobic pieces of shit and put him into prison anyways.

"Ian, don't", Mickey whispered, Ian looked at him apologetic.  
"Mr Milkovich don't try to influence Mr Gallagher."  
"I'm sorry Mick, okay?", Ian gave him a half-smile and turned to the jury, "Mickey can't have raped or tried to rape Mrs Tanner, because he is gay."  
Mickeys jaw clenched.  
"I'm not his roommate, I'm his boyfriend of... depends on how you want to count that, six years."  
That's a nice way to put it, Mickey thought, as if the hiding and the hooking up and the marriage with Svet, the running away and imprisonment didn't happen.

There was a brief silence in the court room.  
"No offence, Mr Gallagher, but you can tell us a lot just so your friend doesn't go to prison.", the attorney said.  
Great, thought Mickey, no he wasn't only humiliated by his boyfriend outing him, that dumb fuck didn't even believe it.  
"He's got my name tattooed on his chest.", Ian smiled and turned to the jury, "He misspelled my last name and I still make fun of him for that, but he got my name tattooed, directly above his heart."  
If Mickey wasn't wrong, some of the jury people almost awed. Ian just knew how to fucking win a crowd.

"Is that true Mr Milkovich?", the attorney asked.  
Mickey sighed and gave Ian an angered glance before pulling his shirt to the side, revealing the "Ian Galager" tattoo on his chest, right over his heart.  
His lawyer was furious, he didn't know any of this, that would've made the whole thing a lot easier from the start. But Mickey didn't care.  
He couldn't see how that detail would rescue him at this point. Him being gay didn't mean that it was physically impossible for him to fuck a girl.  
And the attorney thought the same, apart from the fact that he didn't buy the whole gay-thing.

"If you live in a partnership, why is there an extra bedroom in your apartment?"  
"We grew up in the southside. Being gay alone isn't exactly easy, being gay in the southside? Makes you wary. Mickey didn't want anyone to know that we were gay, because he didn't want anyone to attack us for it.", Ian explained, "Apart from that, we sat up the room, so Yevgeny could sleep over at our place sometimes."  
Mickey bit his tongue. Yevgeny, the attorney would use him against them now, Mickey knew it. He was the evidence that Mickey could fuck a woman.  
"And Yevgeny is?"  
"Mickeys son, you know that, it's in those case files under 'relatives'."  
"So, your whole argument, that Mr Milkovich couldn't have tried to rape Mrs Tanner under any circumstances is based on the fact that he is, supposedly, gay, but he was married to a woman, Svetlana Milkovich, and fathered a child with her."

Ian noticed his mistake at that point. He glanced at Mickey.  
"That is something different", he finally said.  
"How is that different? You are saying, that as a gay man, he couldn't have tried to rape Mrs Tanner, but as a gay man he obviously had sex with a woman to the point of impregnation. And that during the time that you claim to have already been a couple."  
"I'm saying, that it wouldn't make sense for Mickey to try and rape a woman when he doesn't feel sexually aroused by them. But that's not what I meant. That's not the full reason and Svet and Yevgeny are..." Ian shook his head, "He didn't exactly sit down and decided to have a kid with a woman."

Ian looked at Mickey again, yet another apologetic look in his eyes.  
"That is not the full reason? Why don't you tell us the full reason then, Mr Gallagher, if it even exits!"  
Mickey shook his head, no.  
Ian opened his mouth to answer.  
"No", Mickey said, "Ian, don't...", he could only shake his head slowly, a pleading look in his eyes. Ian felt his heart hurting in his chest when he looked into the broken face of the man he loves, "Ian, I beg you..."  
"I'm sorry, but I have to tell them... you didn't do this, and they have to understand why."  
"Stop talking to Mr Milkovich, please. This is getting us nowhere."  
Ian made it to get his eyes off of Mickey and looked back to the jury. He cleared his throat.

"Growing up in a neighbourhood like ours was never easy, it could be a living nightmare when you're gay.", Mickey pressed his lips together.

"Mickey's dad is...", Ian sighed, "A Nazi, a homophobe, a racist, a sexist, he abused and killed Mickeys mom when he was a child. He raped his kid sister ever since the mother was dead.", Mickey swallowed, he thought Ian would only talk about that day Terry caught them, but no, he had to give them his whole damn life story!

"Accepting for himself that he was gay was pretty much impossible for Mickey, because he was simply scared of his dad. Even back then he would rather go to juvie than even chance anyone finding out about him, about us. Then, uhm...", he cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "When he was nineteen, I was seventeen, we were alone at his house. Just, being together, and his dad walked in, caught us. I would, usually spare the details, but you're on the verge of putting the man I love into prison, so you have to sit through that", he said half apologetic and looked back at Mickey, who just stared into nothingness in front of him, undoubtably reliving the moment Ian was talking about right now, he looked back to the jury.

"Terry, that's his dad's name, he started beating me up, I'd say it was bad, I still have a scar on my chest from where his ring cut me, but that was nothing in contrast to what he did to Mickey.", again a quick glance to his boyfriend, who just took a deep breath, pressing his lips together until they were only a thin line, "Mickey pulled him off of me", Ian closed his eyes and turned back to the jury, "And Terry beat him up. More brutal than me, way more... brutal. Insulted him... punched him in his face over and over again... I tried to run away but he held me at gunpoint, made me sit down again, on the couch across from Mickey", Ian could see it in front of him as if it happened just yesterday,

"He kept beating Mickey and... there were seconds... moments where I... I really thought that he was dead.", Ian swallowed hard, he didn't want to remember this feeling, this feeling of thinking the boy you love lies dead in front of you, he didn't dare to look at Mickey yet again, who had tears in his eyes by now, one slowly escaping his blood shot eyes.

"Then it got even worse. Terry called someone on his phone... I thought he would call someone to kill us at last and dump us in lake Michigan. There were times I wished he did.", Ian nodded, his hands started shaking, "Instead a Russian prostitute came to the house, Svetlana. And Terry... Terry told her to... and I have to quote him at this point 'fuck the faggot out of him' and to 'ride him until he likes it'. He forced me to watch.", Mickey hid his face in his palms and Ian took a deep breath.

"Terry told Svetlana to rape Mickey. Mickey couldn't rape anyone, he would never do that, he grew up with the horrors of his sister being raped for years without him being able to do anything about it... he got raped himself. He isn't a rapist, he is a victim, a 'survivor' or however you call those people.", he now looked at the attorney, "During this rape, Svetlana got pregnant... I mean, probably, it's technically unknown, if Yevgeny is indeed Mickeys son. But Terry forced Mickey to marry Svetlana, and he did because he was scared and traumatised and he couldn't talk about it, not even with me. Instead he sent me away, so I wouldn't get hurt any further by Terry, as if he wasn't the one who was hurt the most, not only physically.", he turned back to the shocked jury.

"Mickey still has nightmares about that day. Four years after it happened. He is so deeply hurt by that, that he wasn't mentally able to tell his own lawyer that he's gay, that he begged me not to say it or tell this whole story. He would never inflict the same kind of pain in another person. Never.", Ian said it as sincerely as he could, "And, if I might add that, though the way his son came into his life, he loves him and is a good father. Though all the things that happened to us over the time, we are still together and moved into this apartment to start a new life, away from the... horror and the memories. And the people living there? From the beginning they had only hate and prejudice to offer."

Ian looked at his shaking hands, turning away from the jury and looking at Mickey. Who sat completely broken down in his chair, staring at the table in front of him, not able to gain any control over the thick tears falling from his eyes.  
Ian sent a pleading look to the judge "Can I...", he whispered and pointed at Mickey. The judge nodded and Ian got up, walking over to Mickey, hearing him exhaling a deep breath when Ian pressed Mickey's head against his body, slowly stroking through his black hair, massaging smoothing circles into his scalp while holding Mickeys hand as tightly as possible with his free hand.  
"I'm sorry Mickey, I had to", Ian whispered softly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The jury pleaded Mickey not guilty and all charges were dropped.  
The police later found out that the attacker was in fact Mr Tippson, who was obsessed with Mrs Tanner for years already and knew, he could set up the ex-con, given that no one liked him anyways.  
Mickey didn't even care about that.  
He was just glad to be back home.

"I still can't believe you did that. You're an idiot.", Mickey said.  
"You know, I wouldn't have said something if it wasn't necessary. They wanted to take you away from me, Mick. I couldn't have let that happen. I wished... I wished you wouldn't have had to hear that again."  
Mickey looked at his knuckles and the "Fuck u-up" tattoos.  
"Wasn't easy for you either... telling that... reliving that... You never told me that you thought I was dead..."  
"Yeah...", Ian sighed, "You didn't move anymore at some point, your body only... kind of jumped due to the force of his punches... sometimes... I can still see it when I close my eyes... I was so afraid in that moment. So afraid, I might have lost you."

"You know, when we fuck, old Mrs White thinks we are fighting", Mickey tried to change the topic.  
"Really?", Ian smiled.  
"Yeah, she said, I must be very violent, because she hears various fighting noises all the time. Of course, you couldn't be the one to start the fights because you're such a good guy. Always greeting the people in the damn hallway."  
Mickey lay between Ian's legs on the couch and turned around so he could look Ian in the eyes.

"Thank you, for rescuing me.", he whispers, "Not only in court I mean..."  
Ian nodded and kissed him slowly.  
"I love you", Mickey whispered against his lips.  
"I love you too, and I'll never let you alone again, I promise. I'll just drag you with me wherever I go from now on."

They were interrupted by the sound of baby feet tripling over the carpeted floor.  
Mickey smiled and pecked Ian's lips.  
"Someone's up.", he said and sat up.  
Yevgeny, still sleepy from his lunch nap pushed the blond hair out of his face, he held his stuffed bear in his small hand.  
"Hey big guy", Mickey sat, lifting him off the ground and putting him in his lap.  
"You still here", the sleepy boy murmured. Yevgeny was completely stressed out. He was used to have a regulated schedule with his dad, but he would always see him on the week ends or on Mickeys days off. In fact, Mickey tried to visit his son as often as possible. He never had him over until now, because he didn't want his nosey neighbours to get their hands on his boy. But since the police came to get Mickey, Yevgeny didn't see him anymore. This was the first time in over one or two months, justice system was fucking slow, and Yevgeny threw a fit when it was time for his nap, because he thought, Mickey would be gone when he woke up.

Yevgeny cuddled into Mickey, who leaned back into Ian's arms.  
"I love both of you", Mickey whispered.  
Ian hummed in agreement.

After a few minutes they were disturbed yet again, this time by a knock on their door.  
"You invited your damn siblings over or something?", Mickey asked. Ian shook his head, freed himself from Mickey and went to the door.

To his surprise he found his neighbours there. The Tanners and Mrs White.  
Ian looked back to Mickey, who lay relaxed on the couch with his son.  
"What do you want here?", Ian sighed. Since the court thing was over, Ian hadn't talked to his neighbours anymore, didn't greet them in the hallway, didn't smile at them. They caused a whole lot of a fucked-up mess.  
"Apologize pie", Mrs White said and pretty much shoved the pie in her hands into Ian's face.  
"We want to apologize and come in to... I don't know get to know the two of you better and... stuff.", Mrs Tanner explained.  
Ian took another glance at Mickey.  
"What, who is it?", he asked, "If it's Debbie, no she can't move in with the kids, get a better taste in men, girl. If it's Mandy, she can stay, but same thing though."  
Ian smiled and looked back to his neighbours.  
"One second, okay?", he closed the apartment door and walked over to Mickey.

"It's Mrs White, Mrs Tanner and her husband. They brought pie. They want to come in and talk."  
"Ain't got nothing to say to them"  
"You don't have to say all too much, just sit there and be your amazing self – can you do that?"  
Mickey sat up.  
"You're gonna blow me later, when Yevy's in bed!"  
"Of course, now get him dressed, yeah?"  
Mickey rolled his eyes and woke his son back up, who was just dozing off a bit anyways.

Ian reopened the door and let the disliked people in.  
They sat on the couch (the dining table was too small for all of them) and ate pie. As usual, Yevy was the centre point of attention. The neighbours cooed at him and just loved how he just took apart the small slice of pie he got, smothering berries all over his face, hands, shirt and hair.

Ian rolled his eyes while Mickey just grinned at him. It was his turn on bath time this evening and both knew that very well, when Mickey kept spreading the berries in Yevy's long hair more and more.  
"Alright Mickey, stop dirtying him even more."  
"Says the one who thought it was a great idea to give him chocolate bread when I was on bathing duty.", Mickey teased his boyfriend.

"So, the two of you really are a couple, man who would've thought.", Mrs Tanner smiled.  
"Probably everyone who wondered why two men in their twenties would live in a small apartment together and never bring girls over.", Mickey shrugged.  
Ian couldn't even bring himself to tell Mickey to be nice, because that was the first full sentence Mickey said to the woman today.  
"And for six years already?", Mrs White asked.  
Mickey pursed his lips and looked at Ian.  
"Well, that really depends on how you want to count that.", Ian said, while Mickey put Yevy's plate aside and took him to the kitchen to clean his tiny hands, but not before he took a few pictures of him. The others didn't notice Mickey being a cute, proud dad, while wanting Ian to tell them, what he meant by that.  
"I mean, either you're together for six years or not, shouldn't be that hard.", Mr Tanner said.  
Mickey decided he liked Mr Tanner the least.

"We only hooked up with each other for the first two years.", Mickey said to safe Ian the embarrassment of explaining it while being stared at by the neighbours. He came back with Yevgeny.  
"Did you put all the jam from his hands into his hair?", Ian asked.  
"No."  
Yevgeny grinned and crawled over Mickey's legs to Ian.  
"You did.", Ian sighed, but smiled.

"So, you only hooked up with each other for two years?", Mr Tanner asked with a weird look on his face.  
"Yeah, what doesn't mean that we didn't have feelings for each other. Someone just couldn't admit it", Ian smiled sweetly at his boyfriend who just shook his head, Mickey hated acting this gay in public, "But well, he eventually had to marry Svetlana and I left Chicago and tried to enlist in the army."  
"Illegally.", Mickey added. If Ian wanted to play that game, okay, it would only end bad for Ian.  
"Details.", Ian rolled his eyes, "Then I ran away from the army and started working at a bar, until he came to look for me and brought me home."

"And then?", Mrs Tanner asked.  
"His wife threatened me with a claw hammer and threw me out of the house.", Ian said nonchalantly, making the three visitors chuckle, even Mickey smiled a bit while Yevgeny sat on Ian's lap, smothering berries from his face to Ian's shirt. He noticed but didn't give a shit. It was Mickey's take on laundry this week.  
"Well, long story short, the both of us pretty much lived in my house with my siblings, until Yevy here was born.", he smiled down to the child, "Then at his baptism, Mickey came out to his family, huge bar fight, his dad was sent back to prison and the two of us, Svet and Yevy lived in his house. There we actually said, that we're a couple, officially."  
"And what about the woman... you know, that you tried to kill...", Mrs White asked Mickey.

Mickey raised his eyebrows at her.  
"She was Ian's cousin. Her son went to juvie because of his brother, so she called the MPs on him, they still looked for him going AWOL and enlisting illegally. So, his sister and I thought of methods to get rid of her.", he saw Ian rolling his eyes, "Actually the whole thing was an accident. She took too many pills and we just thought she was dead. So, we locked her in a moving box thing. It wasn't even my fault."  
"It wasn't your fault, that you couldn't make out if she was still alive?"  
"Hey, I'm not the fucking EMT here", he grinned.  
"And she was my half-sister."  
"Bulshit, she was your cousin and no one in your family gave a shit if she was dead or alive anyways."  
"Yeah, that's true."

Ian and Mickey smiled at each other, they knew, the Northsiders wouldn't find that story as amusing, but Mickey and Ian went through so much shit, covering it up with some humour was a good thing in their opinion.  
Mrs Tanner just took a long sip from her coffee.  
"You both got big families in the southside?", Mrs White tried to keep the conversation going. Mickey was slowly tired of it, but Ian tried to make the most of it, maybe the people here would start being nicer to Mickey afterwards, because they certainly didn't want to move just because of a few jackasses.

"Uhm, yeah, I've got five siblings, three brothers, two sisters. My youngest sister just had her second child. Mickey has a younger sister and... three brothers, right? The fourth one was your cousin."  
Mickey nodded, "And none of them had a child at fifteen", Mickey teased Ian.  
"Pops sister is auntie Mandy", Yevgeny said, he had started to use Ian as climbing wall, now sitting on his shoulders, "When can we visit Auntie Mandy again?"  
"Soon I'm sure, Yevy, now come down there, you're gonna fall.", Mickey took the kid from Ian's shoulders and set him on his lap again.  
"No, dad's not letting me fall down, right daddy?", he asked, kicking Ian slightly.  
"Of course not, Yevy, your pops is just paranoid."  
"Some of your siblings falling on their heads when they were babies, would explain a lot, to be fair."

After another hour of weird conversation, the neighbours finally made their way out.  
"Wow, that was awful", Mickey sighed.  
Ian chuckled and kissed his cheek, "Liar. You liked seeing the shock in their stuck-up eyes when we talked about our family."  
"Maybe, but to think that they know about all this stuff with my dad and Svet...they all think I'm broken and pathetic now."  
"Oh, babe, no", Ian cooed, stroking through Mickey's hair, Mickey looked up at him annoyed, he hated that pet name and Ian knew it, "Don't worry, they're all still afraid of you."  
Mickey couldn't help but to break eye contact and chuckle at his words.  
"You're a fucking dick."

Ian nodded grinning like an idiot, "And they absolutely adored Yevy."  
"Of course, they adored him, everybody adores him, look at him, how could they not?", Mickey said, "He's the best of the two of us."  
"You know, that I'm not biologically related to him, yeah?"  
"Bulshit", Mickey scoffed, "It's my and Svetlana's DNA but it's your parenting.My good looks, your personality: Best of the two of us."  
Ian giggled at that and kissed him on the lips, knowing that Mickey actuallythought, Ian looked better him and knowing that Mickey's personality was way better than his own.  
"Did you see the look on their faces when Yevy called me dad and you pops? I mean, what were they thinking, that Yev just sees me as your fuck buddy and calls me 'uncle Ian' or some shit?"  
"Probably", Mickey shrugged, "Stuck up straight Northsiders.", he touched his cheek gently, "We could always move back. Back to the southside, where we belong."  
Ian shook his head, "You really want to give them that kind of satisfaction? Also,you love this apartment, I know you do."  
Mickey smiled and looked at their feet.  
"Yeah, I guess."  
"See, now, you do the dishes, I try to clean up Yevy without him floating thebathroom-"  
"You're gonna fail miserably", Mickey grinned.  
"And I promised him to play a game together and a movie before bedtime."  
"Don't forget that you promised me a blowjob when he's in bed."  
Ian grinned dirtily and kissed him before going off to start the bathtub forYevy.


End file.
